1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of miniature and/or body supported fan constructions in general and in particular to a strap mounted fan that can be selectively mounted on various portions of a user""s anatomy.
2. Description of Related Art
As can be seen by reference to the following U.S. Pat. Nos. D341,195; 4,672,968; 4,744,106 and 5,425,620, the prior art is replete with myriad and diverse miniature personal fan constructions.
While all of the aforementioned prior art constructions are more than adequate for the basic purpose and function for which they have been specifically designed, they are uniformly deficient with respect to their failure to provide a simple, efficient, and practical body supported personal fan construction that is adapted to be selectively placed in different positions of a user""s person to direct noxious odors away from the user""s face rather than for the more common usage of personal fans simply for cooling the user""s skin.
As most smoke sensitive people are aware, there are many instances in their personal life when they are unable to avoid coming into contact with cigarette smoke such as in casinos, bowling alleys, bars, at sporting events and while traveling abroad.
As a consequence of the foregoing situation, there has existed a longstanding need for a new and improved personal fan construction that is adapted to be selectively positioned on different portions of their anatomy to direct noxious odors way from their nasal passages in a relatively unobtrusive and barely audible fashion; and the provision of such an arrangement is the stated objective of the present invention.
Briefly stated, the personal construction that forms the basis of the present invention comprises in general a strap unit, a mounting unit and a fan unit.
As will be explained in greater detail further on in the specification, the strap unit includes a strap member of a size dimensioned to accommodate different portions of a user""s anatomy such as the neck, head, wrist or upper arms wherein the strap member is also adapted to be releasably secured to the mounting unit.
The mounting unit in turn comprises a housing member provided with one or more slots which accept the passage of the strap member wherein the housing member further includes the electrical batteries, wires and switch required to operate the fan unit.
In addition the fan unit includes a fan member that is adapted to be pivotally disposed on the mounting unit such that the angular orientation of the fan member can be varied to direct the flow of air from the fan member in a direction generally away from the user""s face as opposed to the directional orientation of most other personal fans.